It wasn’t like all cemeteries gave her the creeps. She’d been to plenty, but this one had rotten, evil, bad vibes. She’d rather be cremated and flushed down the toilet than be buried there.

They walked in silence down to the cemetery gates, the full moon following them along the way.

“It’s locked for the night,” Josh hissed, shaking the bars.

“Aw, too bad, we should head back.” Amber bit back her grin.

“I know a way!” Lydia sang excitedly, grabbing Amber’s hand and pulling her around the corner.

Wonderful, Amber thought sarcastically, hoping Lydia was wrong.

Josh and Derrick laughed, following close behind them.

“You’re awesome Lydia!” Josh exclaimed when he saw the hole in the fence. He picked Lydia up off her feet and swung her around.

“Come on,” Derrick said, excitement filling his voice. He swung Amber up into his arms and crossed the threshold.

Amber’s skin pricked with goose-bumps as soon as Derrick set her down on the frozen cemetery dirt. The wind kicked up and leaves whirled around her. A creepy feeling settled in her stomach. There’s nothing here she told herself firmly, fisting her hands to keep them from shaking as a chill swept over her.

Josh whooped, grabbed Lydia’s hand and ran with her towards the center of the graveyard.

“We need to stay on the pavement,” Amber yelled as they rounded the bend.

“Leave them be.” Derrick whispered in her ear before planting a kiss on her lips.

Amber closed her eyes and snuggled into him for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her. Content, she glanced over his shoulder, little red eyes glared at her from beyond the gravestones. A dwarfed shadow moved behind a tree. She shuddered.

“They’re here,” She whispered.

Derrick swiveled around and scoped out the area Amber’s eyes were glued on. “I don’t see anything.”

Amber grasped his arm. “They’re right there, behind the trees. We have to find the others and get out of here!”

Derrick’s hair stood up on the back of his neck. He laughed nervously. “Okay, but only for you.” Amber was shaking and scared, maybe coming here was a bad idea after all.

She watched the glowing red eyes peering at them as they called out for their friends. Josh and Lydia didn’t answer.

They headed for where their friends disappeared, peeking at the graves while they walked by. The moon was full and bright in the night sky, exaggerating every shadow of the landscape, making the cemetery look eerier than it should have.

“There they are.” Amber tugged on Derrick’s sleeve to get him to follow. More red eyes glowed out at them from the darkness of the shadows. Derrick reluctantly stepped off the pavement right behind her.

Amber bent down to where Josh and Lydia lay embracing on a grave, eyes opened wide. Above Josh and Lydia’s heads a normally black granite gravestone flared with red and pulsed with life. Amber fell back landing solidly on the burial plot. A frigid wind blasted through her. Panic invaded her thoughts and movements. She blurredly gazed at her friends.

Trying to compose herself she sat up again and checked Josh and Lydia’s pulse. There was none to be found and she didn’t see any trace of blood anywhere.

“They’re cold. Like ice,” Standing up she glanced at Derrick. All color had drained from his face, he hadn’t moved an inch.

“Come on, we need to hurry.” Amber felt the last of her composure melting away and she didn’t want to have a mental breakdown in the cemetery.

“I… can’t… move…,” Derrick said out of stiff lips.

She yanked on his hand. He was like a statue mounted in the ground. His fingers were frigid and freezing cold, way too similar to Josh and Lydia’s bodies to be a coincidence. She was afraid she would break them if she pulled to hard.

“Run… go… home… Run!” He growled between clenched teeth.

She released his hand. She wanted to bolt, but she didn’t want to leave him.

“Run!”

Tears slid from Amber’s eyes as she turned and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Disoriented from fear she raced over graves and dodged gravestones forgetting all about the safety the pavement afforded. The red eyeballs cast in shadows followed, closing the distance between them. Amber dashed toward a grove of trees. She knew she shouldn’t be in this area of the cemetery where the little red devils could be hiding so easily. She also knew she couldn’t backtrack.

She dove under a low hanging branch, stumbled over a rock and landed hard on her hands and knees on the pavement. Relieved to be back on the road, she took a few deep breaths. Feeling safer now she rolled onto her back. She tried to shake off the pain radiating up her arms and legs from the fall and attempted to slow her racing heart. As soon as her body began to relax again she noticed the hole in the fence.

Scrambling to her feet she flew off the pavement towards her salvation. She jumped through the gap snagging her jacket on the wire fence. She yanked her upper sleeve a couple times. It was stuck. Tears soaked her face as she grabbed the zipper on her jacket and pulled. She had to get out of her jacket. Freedom was only a couple steps away. Her zipper caught on her sweater. She let out a string of obscenities before trying to shimmy out of her entangled clothes. She worked them above her upper torso and felt the material give.

“Damn it! Just a little more,” She cried softly. Her adrenaline slammed into overdrive. “Almost there.” She thought she heard rustling in the dead leaves around her. “Hurry, hurry,” she wept.

Elongated shadowed fingers locked onto her foot. A sob escaped her mouth, she hadn’t been quick enough. Burning cold pumped through her ankle and up her veins as she slid the rest of the way through her sweater and crashed to the ground. Another hand latched onto her other foot. An ice cold sensation joined the mix. She could feel her blood solidify as the frigid chill flowed through her body. Her limbs grew heavy, her heart slowed to an unbearable crawl. Eyes wide open she watched as the black cloaked dwarves lifted her legs and drug her back into the graveyard, depositing her mercilessly with her friends.

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Author: lynnthompsonbooks

Lynn Thompson’s home is in the Land of Enchantment, and, yes, the land is enchanting. The skies are blue, the stars are bright., and there are beautiful panoramic landscapes surrounding her hometown.
Lynn wades through the craziness of life to follow her true passion, writing fiction. You can find her, or not, trekking through the mountains, searching for fairies and vortexes, keeping her eye out for anything paranormal, or sitting in the hot springs in her spare time.
Lynn doesn’t have a specific genre she writes in. Characters have a way of leading her stories. She follows. Lynn is also a sponge when it comes to knowledge. She’s always on the move to continue her education in writing, marketing, social media, digital media, and hopes to find the extra time to add some criminal investigation classes to her repertoire.
Lynn has three novels out: Blake, Sterling, and Tarnished Gold.
Blake is the beginning of Montana’s story. Her need for seclusion, at least, for one winter. She does not get what she wants. There is someone or something in the mountains stalking her, people keep showing up on her doorstep, and she meets Max. Max knows what is hunting Montana, but won’t tell her.
Montana’s lack of trust in Max drives her to fix her own problems. If she had known what she’d be confronting that night, she never would have sedated Max.
Sterling is the second novel in the Montana Dayton series. Montana moves to Florida hoping to escape her old life, and regain her normal life back, but her past has come back to haunt her.
Not only does she start losing time, she continues to wake up every morning wearing gorgeous jewels and is surrounded by precious gems. She never remembers where, or who she’s getting the glittery baubles from and is hell bent to get back her memories and return the jewels. Afraid she has been out robbing houses in the middle of the night, she is determined to figure out what is happening on her own.
That is until the dreams and the strong pull to explore the gulf. When she finally realizes she needs help, she is powerless to get it.
Tarnished Gold is Sam’s story and will be coming out around the new year. Sam first appeared in Sterling and demanded her own novel. Lynn has bowed to Sam’s wishes and is writing that story now.
Lynn is also the proud owner of:
Dark Fates. Eight short stories that are fun, but still on the dark side.
Dark Fates-Madness. Four dark short stories.
News Worthy. News Worthy stands alone with five short stories.
Watching the news first thing in the morning may not be fun, but dissecting news clips and re-writing them into short stories that had a different ending was a blast!
Dark Fates Collections is compiled of Dark Fates, Dark Fates-Madness, News Worthy, and features Karma Shay’s adventures.
Visit Lynn at:
Website: www.Lynnthompsonbooks.com
Twitter: @lynnthompson8
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlakeAMontanaDaytonNovel
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/lynnthompsonbooks
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